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Sponsored Cycle in aid of childhood scleroderma research 29/7/07-9/8/07

On the 29th of July, Charlie Halpin, Simon Tomkins and I will set off on an attempt to cycle the length of Great Britain, starting at Lands End and finishing at John O’Groats (approximately 950 miles) in order to raise money for The Raynaud’s and Scleroderma Association. Scleroderma is an extremely rare condition especially in children and as yet there is no cure for this disease. Scleroderma is a connective tissue disease that effects not only skin tissue but also all the major muscle groups, including the vital organs.My (Ewan) 10-year-old daughter, Hannah, was diagnosed with systemic sclerosis (CREST) two years ago.

The Raynaud’s and Scleroderma Association (www.raynauds.org.uk) offer support and help for all people who suffer this condition. In particular, they organise an annual weekend in Chester, England for families with children with scleroderma. This offers the children a rare opportunity to meet peers who also have scleroderma and enable them to share their experiences and coping mechanisms. It also offers parents the opportunity to meet and support each other and to discuss concerns and developments with specialist paediatric rheumatology consultants. As yet, there is no cure for this life threatening disease and funding for continued research is much needed.

 The Raynaud’s and Scleroderma Association (registered charity no. 326306) relies solely on donations and member subscriptions to provide this support. The charity similarly financially supports on going research. You can become a member by visiting www.raynauds.org.uk  and completing the application form.

Donating through this site is simple, fast and totally secure. It is also the most efficient way to sponsor us: Raynaud's & Scleroderma Association will receive your money faster and, if you are a UK taxpayer, an extra 28% in tax will be added to your gift at no cost to you.

So please sponsor us now!

Many thanks for your support.

Ewan, Charlie and Simon

DAY 0 Travel day 28/7/07

Caused security scare at both Edinburgh and Bristol airports with our luggage!! Trouble with valve on bike held us up and had suicidal downhill journey to train station. No bike spaces on Virgin train despite having booked them on. Sat in corridor hugging the bikes!

Train from Exeter much better. Pouring with rain on arrival at Penzance. Cycled the round trip of 20 miles to Lands End to find that they take the sign post in at night as it proves too much of a temptation for souvenir hunters!

Stayed the night in the youth hostel and set off early next morning

Total mileage 28.43

DAY 1 29/7/07 Penzance to Tintagel

Got a row for taking a banana and orange for lunch from the breakfast table! Still raining hard! Head off to Tintagel which is not an easy place to find due to absence of road signs. We find out just how hilly this part of the country is. Endless climbing in our granny gears!

Arrive at Tintagel youth hostel in beautiful weather and stunning scenery. Simon employs his culinary skills and prepares first class meal of pork in a cream and garlic sauce with potatoes and broccolli.

Take some pictures of stunning views from the cliffs by the hostel. Watch the sun disappear very rapidly!

TOTAL MILEAGE 94.62

TIME 7:42

Day2 30/7/07 Tintagel to Tiverton

Late start at 10am after small breakfast. Weather hot and sunny. Realised the need that some drivers should have to resit their tests annually (especially the kamikaze coach driver) The hills here are almost vertical and you get a sore neck just looking up them! Unfortunately the hills are never ending but eventually you do come down...only to go back up! Top speed on descent 43mph with 4 panniers bags, dodgey brakes and closed eyes!

Fed well at Tiverton's Little Chef with monster plate of fish and chips and peas opposite the Travel lodge we stayed in.

MILEAGE 79.89

TIME 7:15

Day3 31/7/07 Tiverton to Slimbridge

Waited over half an hour to get breakfast in Little Chef so we refused to pay. Us cyclists need our fuel quickly!

The roads becoming flatter but still caught out on several ascents that went on forever! Glad to have a triple chainset! Excellent local bike shop gave our bikes a free lube and spare bolts.

Dinner in Morrison's supermarket, excellent value and free refills of cola!

Arrived at Slimbridge hostel around 8.45pm.

MILEAGE 86.68

TIME 7:07

Day 4 1/8/07 Slimbridge to Hodnet.

This was our mega distance. The roads promised to be flat and were in the morning.

Witnessed the devastation that the floods had done in Gloucestershire with some places still underwater. Terrible.

Plagued with inner tube problems today, having to stop several times to repair punctures etc.

Had a lunch of bacon rolls and a Mars ice cream courtesy of Charlie's sister,Lesley.

Set off expecting nice rolling roads to be faced with some devasting climbs. Eventually collapsed at side of road at 6.30pm having run out of any sort of fuel! A quick visit to McDonalds sorted us out and off we set again. Due to failing light and biting off more than we could chew, we were rescued by Charlie's brother, Keith, and transported to Wrexham in luxury. Had another meal of chicken and noodles to stock up again. A nice cold can of Boddingtons hit the spot too!

MILEAGE 98.62

TIME 7:54

Day 5  2/8/07 Hodnet to Preston

Early start after less than 4 hours sleep. Quick breakfast of porrige and toast. Starting to have sore rear end!! and sore palms of hands. Required quick visit to local bike shop for gel saddle cover. Managed to get freeby energy Jelly Beans!

Terrain less hilly and made good time. Had some lovely home made energy rolls courtesy of Keith's partner as pack lunch. Nice spot to eat lunch by the canals.

We crossed the Mersey not by ferry but by little bridge. I presumably blinked and missed the experience! Arrived at Preston around 6pm and had coffee at Kate's where we left our bikes for the night. Travelled up to Lancaster courtesy of Val to friends called Michael and Nellie. The perfect hosts! They celebrate their Golden Wedding in September so a big shout out to them! Lovely meal which deserved a second helping of apple and berry pie and custard!

MILEAGE 83.22

TIME 6:52

Day 6  3/8/07 Preston to Brampton

Another whopper cooked breakfast followed by a lift back to Preston by Michael. Picked up bikes and off we went.

Miles just flying in now as we ride up the A6. Stopped at local bike shop in Kendal to get bolt for Charlie's cleat. Shop keeper wanted him to buy new set for £12 instead of a 50p bolt. After searching for 15 mins for bolt, Simon discover 4 redundant bolts on his shoes! Shop keeper ushered us out the shop! He did however replace a bolt on my chainset but refused my payment of a couple of jelly babies!! Ha ha!

Headed over the dreaded Shap Fell in terrible weather conditions. 1400 feet of misery with legs screaming in pain. Vey fast downhill though, Simon reaching close on 50mph!

Naturally the last 20 or so miles were uphill to Brampton. Left bikes there with friends of Charlies brother Peter. The beauty of a large family!! Lift to Alston, Cumbria where we stayed the night. Peter keeps hens and roosters which are a talking point with some of his neighbours!!

MILEAGE  95.92

TIME 7:03

Day 7  4/8/07 Brampton to Galashiels

Had the hardship of another cooked breakfast this morning!! Lift back to Brompton from Caroline, Peter's wife. Struggled to get accomodation in the borders and decided it was too far to ride to Dunfermline in one go. Reluctantly booked into a luxury hotel called the Kingsknowes Hotel in Glashiels. This made the journey short and sweet.

Had been raining in morning but miraculously the sun came out as we crossed the border into Scotland. The sun shines on the righteous!!

Highlight for me was Stuntman Charlie attempting to grab Simon's rear bag in attempt to get tow up a hill. All went horribly wrong and Charlie sent sprawling off his bike and onto road. This makes up for all the times he laughed when I hit the deck on our commutes to work. Mastercard moment! Priceless!! (He wasn't seriously hurt, by the way!)

Stayed the night in aforementioned hotel which was excellent value and served meals to match. Owner even let us store our bikes next to his Porsche!

MILEAGE 62.80

TIME  4:49

Day 8  5/8/07 Galashiels to Dunfermline

Massive breakfast and off by 840am. Weather bleak but didn't dampen the spirits as the boys were coming home! Despite being soaked to the skin, we made excellent progress through the borders and into Midlothian. Down the A7 to Edinburgh and hit the 650 mile mark on the Forth Road Bridge.

Arrived in  Dunfermline around 1.30pm and home to see the wives ( one wife each that is!) and the kids. My left achilles heal is swollen and painful but ,hey, we're athletes after all, ha ha! Can recommend Solpadeine Extra

Plan to set off to Pitlochry around 1pm tomorrow.

MILEAGE  55.02

TIME  4:26

Day 9  6/8/07 Dunfermline to Pitlochry

Big effort to leave home and continue challenge. Eventually got on bikes at 1.45pm and headed up towards Pitlochry. Weather miserable and very soon soaked to skin! Fairly flat terrain but one or two challenging climbs.

Stayed in youth hostel but did not get much sleep due to a Spanish snorer! Never heard anything like it. Eventually stopped miraculously around 5am when I threatened to shoot him!!

Evening meal consisted of a fish supper and cans of coke. Treated to local pipe band marching up the street at 10pm in full flow!

MILEAGE  57.72

TIME  5:00

Day 10   7/8/07 Pitlochry to Aviemore

Continental breakfast this morning, nothing continental about it...just like cereal,toast and coffee! Had to change our plans as we could not get any accomodation in Inverness so headed to Aviemore.

Terrain mainly flat but again a couple of challenging climbs. Stayed mainly on A9 which was busy as usual with lorries thundering past apparently oblivious to us!

Short distance today and arrived at hostel around 5pm. Simon cooked coq au vin which was delicious with apple struddel for pudding.

Place crawling with Swedish school kids on some orienteering competition.

Slept well

MILEAGE  56.85

TIME  4:56

Day 11   8/8/07 Aviemore to Carbisdale Castle

Early start as punishing cycle in front of us. Magnificent scenery and beautiful weather. Followed cycle route 7 which was big mistake as evidentally designed for quad bikes or tractors and not 700x32 tyres! Delayed over an hour pushing bikes over horrendous terrain. Found A9 again and hit the road.

Stopped in Inverness for lunch and bought more pain killers and a new charger for my phone which I had left in Dunfermline. Doh!!

Continued journey over the Struine hills, took 1 3/4 hours to climb and 4 mins to come down. Fun overtaking cars on the downhill, Didn't quite reach the 50mph mark though but took some amazing moving images of descent. I'm mad but I know it!!

The hostel is indeed a castle, presumably with ghosts included! Very stately. Hope we don't get thrown out!

Penultimate day!!

MILEAGE 76.12

TIME 6:48

DAY 12  9/8/07 Carbisdale Castle to John O'Groats

Best nights sleep yet. No ghosts and no snorers!!! Fantastic view from castle turrets but I don't think we were allowed up there considering the amount of barriers we had to negotiate. Tried striking the bells with the hammer but just too heavy, ha ha!

Early kick off as 100 miles ahead of us. Had cooked breakfast of bacon and egg rolls and on the road by 7.20am. Very cold but dry. Soon heated up with the long rolling roads and the sun appeared. With the finishing line in sight even the hills couldn't slow us down (YET!) All good things must come to an end and the tail wind certainly did! Little did we know it but the next 75 miles were fought against a 40mph head wind!

Met Charlie's wife Cathy a few miles before Helmsdale who kindly took our panniers in the car. Kept ourselves amused by singing the good old classics like "Two Little Boys" and "Four wheels on my wagon" and "Donald where's yer troosers" It's funny how you remember the simple things in life!

Had lunch in Helmsford and set off again into the head wind. Now, there have been rumours about "a sting in the tail" and if we thought Cornwall was hilly then the next two climbs were comparable to Everest. First climb 10% gradient (about an hour to climb from sea level) and 30 seconds to come back down to sea level followed immediately by 13% gradient with hairpin bends (about another hour climb and 1 minute descent). The views were amazing and breath taking or was that because we were just out of breath!!

The sign posts start indicating the distance to John O'Groats but I reckon whoever had measured it had a large hip flask with them because the distance got greater not lesser, but then seemed to correct itself.

10 miles to John O'Groats and the wind changes at last! A nice rolling road to coast down. Our legs are starting to seize up and even our bikes seem to know the end is nigh as the gear shifts become more problematic! They have served us well!

We glide into John O'Groats like 3 cowboys on our trusty steeds from High Noon crossing the finishing line together. I am quite emotional as I remember the whole reason for this ride in the first place. I can't believe I (we) have done it.

Naturally the famous sign post has again been removed to protect it from sounenir hunters but we get our papers stamped and a few photos of John O'Groats. We will come back in the morning to get photos of the post.

Cathy runs us up to the youth hostel in the car (you didn't think we'd cycle!!) where we get changed and go to the Schoolhouse Restaurant for our evening meal. We get a free malt whisky (voted best whisky in the world apparently) which was the perfect night cap.

A fine nights sleep, hostel doesn't do breakfast so we munch on some digestive biscuits that we find in our panniers. Off to the harbour to get that shot of the elusive sign post. Managed to get a sneaky photo when official photographer wasn't looking. Well he charges £17 for a photo and is adamant that the post is his back drop and not a council sign.

Charlie heads off with Cathy to Orkney after dropping Simon and I off at Wick train station to head home. A long train journey, which ran parallel to some of our route and brought back fond memories.

MILEAGE 95.66

TIME 7:59

TOTAL DISTANCE 943.22 Miles

TOTAL TIME 77HRS 44MINS 07SECS

HIGHLIGHT OF TRIP : SIMON DEMONSTRATING WHAT THE LOCALS DO FOR ENTERTAINMENT IN ONE OF THE MOST BARREN STRETCHES OF ROAD IN THE HIGHLANDS (DON'T ASK, YOU HAD TO BE THERE!)

LOW POINT : NEVER REACHING THAT ELUSIVE 50MPH DOWNHILL!!!

WE WOULD LIKE TO THANK OUR WIFES CAROLINE MACKENZIE, DEBBIE TOMKINS AND CATHY HALPIN WHO HAVE SUPPORTED US ALL THE WAY AND KEPT THE WORLD TICKING OVER ADMIRABLY BACK IN DUNFERMLINE.

WE WOULD LIKE TO THANK EVERYONE WHO HAS SENT US TEXTS WITH WORDS OF ENCOURAGEMENT, WHO HAVE REMEMBERED US IN THEIR PRAYERS, WHO HAVE WELCOMED US INTO THEIR HOMES AND ACCOMODATED US OVERNIGHT, WHO HAVE PROVIDED LIFTS FROM PICK UP POINTS AND RETURNING US THERE, AND WHO HAVE FED US. WITHOUT YOUR HELP WE COULD NOT HAVE ACHIEVED THIS. A MILLION THANKS TO EVERYONE WHO HAS SPONSORED US TO DO THIS CHALLENGE, IT TRULY HAS BEEN OVERWHELMING TO KNOW THAT SO MANY PEOPLE CARE.

I WOULD ALSO LIKE TO THANK BOTH CHARLIE AND SIMON WHO AGREED TO DO THIS CHALLENGE WITH ME AND AGREEING TO CHOOSE THE RAYNAUD'S AND SCLERODERMA ASSOCIATION AS THEIR CHARITY TOO! THANKS GUYS!

OUR TARGET OF £8000 IS LIKELY TO BE MET WHICH IS JUST INCREDIBLE. WE INITIALLY HOPED TO REACH £2000 BUT IT BECAME APPARENT THAT WE WERE GOING TO SURPASS THAT. THIS WILL MAKE A DIFFERENCE TO ALL CHILDREN WHO HAVE SCLERODERMA!!!!!!!!! THANK YOU FROM THE BOTTOM OF MY HEART!